And now, our feature presentation!

I don’t know ‘bout you guys, but I welcomed in the New Year at a beach car park in Oceangrove babysitting intoxicated minors who were polite enough to christen my shoes with their regurgitated food. Put plainly, I got spewed on, and bled on, and almost peed on (sounds like I was at a Rave or something, yeah?). But, hell, I was prepared for it in heavy duty, high visibility overalls and army boots. To be honest, I didn’t even realise the clock had ticked over to 2006. We were carrying some casualty back to our post at the time, I think. It was a very eventful night and one I will be volunteering for again this year, most likely. Looking back it was a good learning experience, I made a few mistakes, which I will never repeat – and ain’t that the point of makin’ mistakes! On top of that, Ruth and I had fun decorating the vehicle with glow sticks and shiny ‘magnetic’ toys (it’s all about magnets!). It was a very festive First Aid Post!

Spent most of New Year’s day sleepin’, as we didn’t get back from duty ‘till ‘bout 4.30am. Arrived home to find Melz still awake, watchin’ TV, well attemptin’ to anyway. Mum, Dad, Nan and my cousin Graeme (from Perth) visited that afternoon from Anglesea and then left again to meet up with my uncle, Jimmy (also from Perth… surprise, surprise he’s Graeme’s Dad!). Unfortunately I worked at the shop on the New Year’s Day public holiday so no mega Aragon/Legolas fest for me and my friends. On the up side I got double time, which will go towards… bananas and milo (two of my many addictions at the moment).

Graeme decided Melz and I were just too much fun to be around so he came back the next day and stayed for the week. Personally, I don’t know how he survived. Simon was in Geelong for the Jayco Cycling challenge that Friday night, so the three of us met up with him and some of his friends for a bit, at least that gave Graeme a bit of a break from our incessant squabbling! That weekend we went to Melbourne, where Graeme actually managed to get us out pubbin’ (well it’s not hard to get Melz out, but it’s a pretty mean feat to get me on the social scene). Went to Bridie O’Reilly’s in Brunswick with one of my other cousins, Chloe (not from Perth, although I’m sure she’d like to be) as well. There was a live band, who weren’t bad, but is it just me, or do all Saturday night pub cover bands play the same old songs no matter where you are? Maybe that’s the point, I don’t know. Anyway, that was a good night, apart from all the passive smoking that went on under the low-ceilinged pub. I swear they make ‘em like that so you get hotter faster and hence drink more.

The next week was fun-filled with yeast, ants and hams (ie work). Damian got home from Canada (via Fiji) on the eleventh. He might as well still be there though – I think we hear from him less when he’s home in Sydney than when he’s off romping around the world. For more info on his adventures check out his blog - Nomad Odyssey. Be warned, however, he has typing diarrhoea, meaning - there’s no punctuation or grammar to be seen with a magnifying glass the size of… Minnesota (I just had to say it!).

Melz and I had dinner at Delwyn’s on the Thursday, which involved three of my fave things - good food, good company and good conversation – thanks Delwyn! On the fourteenth I met up with another one of my friends, Teresa, for lunch at Panache (another addiction of mine, thanks for introducing me Teresa *smiles*) and a stroll round the foreshore. That was nice as it was quite a pleasant day and we hadn’t seen each other for a number of weeks, so there was plenty o’ catchin’ up to do.

Went to Avalon Speedway with St John that night – just Marilyn, Ruth and I. It was an extremely quiet one (I can say the ‘Q’ word now, cause the night is over), we didn’t even get a single Bandaid or Panadol. Speedway is becomin’ sorta a regular duty for me. It’s a pretty fun night. Mostly we just sit around havin’ girlie talks. On this particular night Ruth and I drove Marilyn mad with Stargate chatter. I swear we started talking about it the second I got in the Hi Ace and didn’t stop until Ruth dropped me at the corner of our street at 11.30pm or whatever time I got home. (Stargate is my other addiction at the moment… hmmm… seem to have a lot of those, don’t I?)

On Sunday fifteenth I spent the day at St Leonards (it’s about a half hour drive round the Peninsula from Geelong – still in the bay) with some of the St John cadets. They have been doing a boating badge over the summer break with Leon (our cadet leader), who happens to have a fishing boat. For all you guys out there (and Melz) who know what I’m talking about, it’s a clinker built, 19 foot, planing hull and… I’ve forgotten the make! Ack! I would fail the badge! Anyway, it was a fantastic day, the weather wasn’t superb, but it was good enough for a spin on the water, some swimming, picnicking and beach cricket!

The cadets did really well considering some of them are only twelve. They had some pretty hard tasks to do, things I prolly wouldn’t be able to do myself, unless there was some major motivation, like… bananas… and milo! They had to swim a certain distance with life jackets, tread water for a certain amount of time and pull themselves back into the boat, from the water. This was all in depth way over their heads. It may not sound tough, but it is. I mean, I had enough trouble pulling myself into the boat from waist deep water! Certainly looked like a fish outta water, too. Heh heh.

Last weekend I spent a little more time with the cadets on Friday night. Leon was holding a theory session, so I went along purely as back-up. Lord knows I weren’t there to give any talks on boat safety, or boat motors or weather patterns and the like! Saturday and Sunday was spent on the couch watchin’ Farscape (you guessed it… another of my addictions – thanks Ruth!) with Ruth. We went to Speedway again, had a few more casualties that night – one recommended Ambo transport, but nothing too serious. They had the monster trucks there, which I hadn’t seen before. Laura and I raced up to the stadium to check ‘em out when the announcement came over the PA. Pretty mad, but I think I like the racing better… there’s nothin’ more excitin’ than big, hard clumps of mud flying towards you at some ridiculously high speed. Talk ‘bout puttin’ your life on the line, heh heh. (I use wayyyy too many clichés.)

Last week was pretty crazy, again. Melz spent half the week sailing at the Skandia Geelong Week and has the bruises to show for it. I swear, last night we were walking round the supermarket and she had these huge black marks up her legs. It looks like she’s been tied to a chair underneath the staircase and beaten with a leather strap or something! I worked Oz Day and had Lyndon visit for the weekend, which was neat. For those of you who don’t know, Lyndon was my housemate at Barry St, Carlton. We also went to High School together. He came down on the Friday night after I had finished work and spent a brief stint at the hall helpin’ Leon again with cadets. We went down to the Yacht club to watch the Oz day fireworks and go for a cruise on John’s yacht with Melz and their crew. That was nice and refreshing – it was a beautiful night out on the bay. Had some tea and a few drinks, came home, ate some more, caught up and went to sleep.

Although I had been planning to spend Saturday 28th at the Oz Open, I had to cancel and play tennis myself as one of our team got injured. Was looking forward to the game, but Murphy’s Law prevailed and we got rained out. Lyndon and I managed to have a quick hit, which we continued on Sunday when the weather was ‘slightly’ better. He had me runnin’ round the court and was good competition, considering he hasn’t had a hit since the days at Cobram Lawn Tennis Club. Phew! That’s a stretch for the old memory.

Due to the rain we decided to go see ‘Brokeback Mountain’, which I adored. I had few criticisms and overall thoroughly enjoyed it, but that could be my Ang Lee bias. Anyone else seen this movie and wanna comment? Pls do, I’d be interested to hear what you thought. Saturday night Lyndon cooked steak for me - that was a pleasant treat! I love being cooked for! He also introduced me to a couple of things. Firstly, smoked salmon philly cheese drizzled over steak & veg – delish! Secondly, ‘We Can Be Heroes’, a comedy series screened on ABC about the search for Australian of the Year – hilarious and clever. Lastly, Eddie Perfect (I hope that’s spelt right) – a cabaret style comedian who sings about middle class melancholy, juice bars, indigenous ozzies and George Bush… of course. So, over the course of the wkend we indulged in food, conversation, laughs and a little exercise. Sounds like the perfect life to me! Thanks Sox, we shall have to do it again soon!

And now I should prolly wrap this up… considering how freakin’ long it is. See what I mean about borin’ you all to Z’s?

Quick update on the fam – Mum and Dad are well. Dad’s back at work and cricket. He’s been playin’ some Master’s games or something like that. It’s for over 35’s but he claims it should be for over 45’s. I said that was because he just wanted to be cream of the crop, he replied that he already was. So, yeah, he’s his usual egotistical self (wonder where the boys get it from!). Mum has started walkin’ again and still bitches and moans about work (but who doesn’t?). Look forward to receiving your comments, Mum. Chloe has been up home (Tocumwal) for over a week now. She’s been working with Dad at Sorrenti’s in the packing shed. Have fun out in the shed, Chloe – you’ve lasted longer than I ever did, I think my record was prolly a day. And good luck with those two, just ask Damo – you’ll need it.

Just a few last things… wanted to say Happy Birthday to Amanda and Annmaree, even though neither will prolly read this. Also, congratulations to Lori & David as well as Michelle & Sean on their respective engagements. Another congrats to Bronwyn and Aaron who are expecting their first baby. Hope you’re nice and healthy and everything’s goin’ well Brom. Still more congratulations to Chloe and Lauren for getting’ into the courses you both wanted. And last but not least, good luck to Tan on her upcoming trip to Vietnam (you beeaarchhh!!!!!). Have fun, enjoy the experience and don’t stress!

Phew! Now I can take a breath and say…

I’m out. Cheers.